


There's an Endless Road

by romeoandjulietyouwish



Series: Lis Writes Vox Machina [7]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Brother-Sister Relationships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28240464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romeoandjulietyouwish/pseuds/romeoandjulietyouwish
Summary: Percy dreams of his little sister.
Relationships: Cassandra de Rolo & Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III
Series: Lis Writes Vox Machina [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026871
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	There's an Endless Road

Percy prods the fire in his workshop, leaning back when he’s content with the flames. Whitestone is quiet now. His siblings are fast asleep, the servants have headed home, the guards at every door are quiet, keeping their watchful eyes up. But Percy is still busy in his workshop. His parents are away on business so Percy is allowed to work until the late hours of the night since there is no one to stop him. 

As he glances over his blueprints and jots something down, he hears the door to his workshop creak open a tiny bit. He looks over his shoulder and sees Cassandra peeking around the door. She’s always been small and at her young age, her head barely passes the doorknob of his workshop. She’s wearing her nightgown, thick wool socks, and her robe.

“Percy?” Cassandra whispers, looking at her big brother with big eyes. 

“Mmhmm,” Percy turns to look at her, dusting off his hands on his pants. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” 

She nods, stepping carefully into the workshop. Percy notices her keeping her hands pressed to her sides, he’s given all of his siblings a number of lectures about not touching anything in his workshop. Cassandra is the only one who listens. 

Percy takes a knee in front of his little sister. “Then what are you doing here?” 

“I can’t sleep,” she admits. “And-and I would have gone to Vesper but she was mad at me today.” Percy sighs, with their parents away on business, leaving Julius and Vesper in charge of all the little ones. He had heard Vesper and Cassandra fighting earlier, but can’t for the life of him recall why. 

“Come on.” He lifts Cassandra up into his arms, settling her on his hip. She’s still small enough that he can do that, but come a year or so, she’ll be too big. “Let’s get you back to bed.” 

Cassandra wraps her arms around his neck and rests her head on his shoulder as she yawns. Percy feels his heart warm a little. He’s never been particularly touchy with any of his siblings, but he has such a soft spot for Cassandra.

He carries her carefully up the stairs, passing the darkened doors of their sibling’s rooms until he reaches Cassandra’s door. He adjusts Cassandra a little so that he can free a hand to open the door. Inside the room, the fire is still burning in the fireplace, casting soft shadows across the room. He brings her to her bed and sets her down, helping her crawl underneath the covers. 

“Percy?” She looks up at him with wide, trusting eyes, as he sits on the edge of the bed beside her. 

“Yeah?”

“Will you sing to me?” 

Percy sighs, “Cassandra…”

“Please? Mother and father are gone and everyone else is asleep.”

Percy takes a deep breath, the things he does for his little sister... “Alright, but I promise it won’t be any good.” 

Percy clears his throat a little and with his out of practiced, slightly scratchy voice, begins to sing an old lullaby. The words speak of finding one’s way home, even in the darkest and coldest nights of the year. The melody is simple enough and repetitive enough that Percy is able to carry the tune. As he sings, Cassandra’s eyes begin to droop closed. He repeats the song twice and by the end of the second time, she’s fast asleep. 

Percy smiles at his little sister, pulling the blankets a little higher around her shoulders. He forgets himself for a moment and kisses her forehead. Percy freezes for a moment then quickly stands and leaves the room, shutting the door quietly behind him as he returns to his workshop. 

Many years later, Percy finds himself running in the snow, Cassandra right behind him. He can hear her panicked breaths as their shoes crunch loudly in the fresh snow. Tears gather in his eyes from both the cold wind and the horrific events he just witnessed. It’s just the two of them, they’re all that’s left. 

“Percy!” Cassandra gasps. He turns around just in time to see her fall, arrows protrude from her chest. He has to make a decision. He can see the Briarwood’s men running at him. If he stays he’ll be captured again. That can’t happen. But his little sister is bleeding out in front of him, if he runs she’ll die. Cassandra goes limp, all of the fight seeping out of her. 

If he tries to help her, it’ll slow him down and they’ll both be caught. 

“I’m sorry,” Percy tells Cassandra. With his tears freezing to his cheeks, he runs. 

* * *

Percy wakes with a gasp, clutching his chest as a sort of hollow feeling begins to deepen in his chest. He remembers this feeling well, the pain and guilt of loss. Sitting up in bed, Percy swings his legs over the side, hunching over himself as he tries to breathe. The darkness surrounding him doesn’t help, the fire must have died out a few hours ago, but Percy can’t find the strength to get up and light it again. 

Cassandra is fine, he tells himself, she’s just down the hall, asleep in her bed. She’s okay. They had dinner together last night. 

But his other siblings, his parents, they’re not. They’re dead. They’re all gone. Percy claps his hand over his mouth to stifle the sobbing sound that escapes between his lips for fear of waking the woman asleep beside him. His shoulders shake as he begins to cry for the first time in a long while.

Unable to keep quiet any longer, Percy rises from bed. He makes sure that Vex is still asleep on the other side of the bed before he pulls his robe on and walks into the hallway. The stone floor is cold under his feet, but Percy pays it no mind as he walks down the silent hall to Cassandra’s bedroom. 

He opens her door quietly and peeks his head in. The fire in Cassandra's room still burns, allowing him to see inside the darkened chamber. He can see his sister tucked under several thick blankets, her hair in messy braids. She sleeps curled on her side facing the door, the blankets pulled so high that all he can see is her closed eyes to the top of her head. Percy takes a deep breath and reminds himself that she’s okay. After a moment, he quietly shuts her door. 

Though Percy intends to walk back to his bedroom, he finds himself walking down to his workshop. He hasn’t been inside for a few days and he finds that he left most of the things he was working on lying about. Maybe it’s the desire to do something with his hands, or force of habit that makes Percy start tidying up. He tucks away his tools and his plans, makes sure to lock away the extra dangerous things, though he’s not doing much work on those recently. 

As he opens one of the drawers to put away some pliers, he stops. Suddenly he remembers the false bottom under one of the cabinets. It’s where he used to hide his plans for gifts for his family or things he didn’t want the little ones to stumble upon accidentally.

Distantly, Percy wonders if Ripley or the Briarwoods ever found it. There might still be some half finished presents or plans in there. 

His heart fluttering in his chest, Percy kneels down next to the cabinet and opens it. He pulls everything out of the cabinet and reaches for the false bottom. When he opens it, he finds dozens of papers. There are letters, drawings, notebooks, and legal documents all in his family member’s handwriting. Percy puts his hand over his mouth when he sees them. He feels something catch in his chest. These were most definitely not here when he fled. 

“Percy?”

Percy turns around to see Cassandra standing in the doorway of the workshop, arms wrapped around herself. “What is all of this?” He asks her.

Cassandra crosses to him and kneels down by his side, looking into the cabinet. She begins to pull the papers out and set them on the ground in front of them. He recognizes Vesper’s diary and half finished letters in his mother’s handwriting. Even things as mundane as notes to remind one of the little ones to pick up their toys. It’s all here. 

Underneath all of the papers and journals, there are objects, very familiar objects. Whitney’s little stuffed bunny, Julius’ golden cuff, mother’s blue butterfly hair clip, Vesper’s locket, Oliver’s clay swan statue, Ludwig’s little toy bear, father’s cufflinks, and his old glasses.

Percy just stares at everything, his mouth hanging open. 

“This is everything I could save before they brainwashed me,” Cassandra says quietly. She runs her thumb over the soft fabric of the stuffed bunny. “I managed to sneak away a few times and steal from father’s office and everyone’s bedrooms before they destroyed everything. I hid it here because I figured this was the safest place they could possibly be.” She sighs, “I completely forgot about it until just now, I’m sorry.” 

He shakes his head and puts his hand on Cassandra’s shoulder. “This is incredible.” He stares dumbly at everything for a moment before looking back over at Cassandra. “You knew about the false bottom?”

Cassandra nods with a reminiscent smile. “Oliver and Whitney showed it to me, they said it’s where you hid presents for us.” 

Percy smiles sadly, “I should have known they’d find it eventually, those two were always the nosy pair.” Cassandra nods. Percy wraps his arm around her slim shoulders, pulling her into his side. 

It takes them both a few moments to build up the strength to start reading through everything. Some of the documents are meaningless contracts or documentation of events, but most of them are not. Percy pickles up Vesper’s diary and begins to flip through it. He finds sections about their siblings and boring parties they were forced to attend and annoying tutors, but one page makes Percy stop reading and pass the book to Cassandra. The diary entry describes the day Cassandra had been born, how little and fragile she was, and it documents Vesper’s hopes and wishes for her new baby sister. When Cassandra’s eyes become too clouded with tears to keep reading, she turns her head against Percy’s neck. 

Percy holds his little sister close, unable to keep the tears from his own eyes. Despite himself, Percy begins to sing to her. His voice is scratchy and the song is full of imperfections, but he sings the familiar lullaby. After a few words, Cassandra joins in, her voice light and the words barely coming out. 

When the song is over, both of the siblings’ eyes are full of tears as they hold each other even tighter.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated!
> 
> Tumblr- @romeoandjulietyouwish


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